Welding unit and method of welding



June 11, 1929. R. o. BERG 1,716,847

WELDING UNIT AND METHOD 0F WELDING Filed Jjme 1, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l INVENTOR.

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#nf wil June l1, 1929.

R. o. BERGv WELDING UNIT AND METHOD OF WELDING Filed June l, 1926 A 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .ll-WENTOR.- v Flam@ 0. use?.

lliat-envtedJune 11,1929. n i l l UNITED .STATES PATENT `OFFICE.

RICHARD 0. BERG, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO `'MICHIGAN STEEL TUBE PRODUCTS C0., OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION F MICHIGAN.

WELDING UNIT AND METHOD OF WELDING.

Application led June 1, 1926. Serial No. 113,000.

This invention relates Ato tube welding. have been employed to tightly press the It is the object of the present inventionv to edges together and completely eliminate the provide an improved unit for gas-welding seam cleft. We have found that by properly tube. It has been the general practice hereco-ordinating four Welding rolls with the tofore in Oxy-acetylene gas welding to use pinch rolls quite a distance in the rear of the 60 a single pair of so-called .welding or comtorch and the holding rolls that not only is pression rolls, as'shown for instance in the a more reliable feed achieved, but better patent to Anderson, No. 1,402,996. ,It has Welding is secured by reason of tightly presseen the practice to apply the welding torch ing the edges of the metal together at a time 10 either directly on the line of greatest preswhen the metal is slightly cool and is in a 65 sure, as has been recommended by some prior firmer condition and less fluid. inventors, or to locate the welding torch Furthermore, we have found unusually slightly in advance of the pressure line of good results follow in heating the tube the tube welding units. Ordinarily thse through. By using a relatively loose initial pressure rolls are positively driven and the pair of welding rolls it is possible to heat the 70 feed of the tube through the welding ma.- tube through with the multiple jet welding chine has been governed by these compres torch without usingsuch great pressures in sion rolls. We have found that where the the gases as to blow holes through the tube. compression rolls immediately at or behind The tube edges at the torch are not pushed the welding jets are utilized to drive the tube together so tightly and the heat of the multi- 75 considerable difficulties at times attend this ple jet Welding torch may not easily peneform of drive. If the compression rolls are trate to the interior. Where the tube edges close enough together so as to pinch the tube are brought together they are not exactly tightly, this will push up a burr by reason parallel by reason of the faces of the edges of the soft metal immediately behind the eing noton true radii. There is a slight 80 torch. Of course this burr is very objectiondivergence from the meeting point which is able because it must be removed. While a on the inside. Obviously .if the edges are moderate burr is nearly always present in not pushed together by a great pressure unall electric weldedtube, it is the object of der the torch the burning gases can enter Cil gas-welded tube to so weld that no perceptithis slight cleft and heat the lips of the tube 85 is a certain amount of slippage, and in some Fig. 4 is a plan view o ble burr occurs. It has therefore been the clear to the inside, and the molten metal may practice to so" adjust the compression rolls run down into the cleft as the tube reaches that the pressure is not sufficient to throw up the point of greatest subjection to the heat a burr. However, in practice, it has been of the torch.

35 found that by reason of the comparative In the drawings: oo looseness of the compression rolls the grip Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tube with the on the tube has not been sufficiently firm to rolls in horizontal cross section. reliably and uniformly feed the tube through Fig. 2 and Fig.- 3 are cross sections on the the machine. The result has been that there lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Fig. 1.

the welding unit. 95 cases, even stoppage of the tube. This has Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the rolls and resulted in burning or blowing holes through the welding torch. the tube due to the excessive heat of .the Figs. 6-10 are sections taken on the corwelding torch when. the tube momentarily responding section lines of Fig. 1.

pauses on its way under the torch. This, of Oxy-acetylene Welding as now carried on 100 course, results in either considerable Wastage by the most progressive tube-makers is done in tubes, or excess cost in repairing the tube with one or more lines of small jets of having such faults. flame. If a single line is used this strikes Of course we know that tube has been the tube directly on the line of cleft. If

heretofore fed through welding machines by two lines of jet are used these jets strike the 105 .rolls in advance of the welding rolls whic 4tube on` opposite sides of the cleft. From press thered-hot tube together. Such a two to eight, or even more, are employed j construction is shown in Anderson, No. in arow.`V According to the old practice it 1,402,997. However, where such a feed is is customary to use a pair of weldingfand employed, the rolls in advance ofthe torch compression rolls at or just behind the to be able to feed the tube thr the welding rolls. As already stated, however, the tube cannot be gripped so tightly as to push up an objectionable burr.

Instead of the two Weldine' rolls I employ two rolls (1L-fa in substantially the same pesition that the two Welding rolls have heretofore been located.l However, these rolls are not strictly compression rolls in the proper sense o that term as appliedto the compression rolls heretofore employed. These rolls are more properly simply holding and positioning rolls. Their purpose is to press the two edges lightly together. Inasmuch as these edges, when the strip is bent into the tube, are not on true radii extending from the axis of the tube, it will be apparent thata slight cleft in the top of the tube (as shown in Berg 1,483,272, and Anderson 1,402,996 in advance of the Welding rolls), unless such pressure is brought to bear on the tube as to distort the stock to push the edges together at the line between the welding roll center and this is what occurs in such welding units shown in the prior Berg and the prior Anderson patents. A cleft is shown in Fi 2, directly on the line of the roll centers t at may range from five thousandths of an inch upwardly. N ow the purpose of the first set of rolls is to hold the tube in registry and press the torclal The tube is ordinarily so gripgxed as oug `edges towards each other so that they will have a line of contact only on the inside of the tube, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. This leaves a much larger cleft on the outside of the tube under the torch than is afforded by the prior art. This cleft is a very useful thing' in connect-ion with our arrangement of rolls for it permits the heat ver-y readily to reach through to the inside of the tube. At the same time the tube is held together at the bottom of the cleft so that none of the liquid metal will drop through the tube into the interior. The heat reaches the inside of the tube in tWo ways.y The first jets that strike the tube (or the burning gases if the two-line torch is used) can reach down to the cleft to the bottom of the cleft. This is shown in Figs. 7 and 8; As succeeding jets strike the metal the same is rendered fluid and flows into the cleft (as shown also in Fig. 8 and in Fig. 9), carrying with it the heat to the very bottom of the cleft-and quickly heating up the walls of the cleft to the Very bottom.

I find in actual practice it is preferable to considerably relieve the pressure of the front pair of rolls from what has previously been the practice. They may be approximately five thousandths of an inch freer with respect to the tube than has )reviously been the ractice, for they are on y desired to press t e tube edges together at the bottom of the cleft and are not called upon for employ a second pair of rolls 7)-7), the centers of which are preferably about six inches from the first pair of rolls. These .rolls are the real compression and feeding rolls. Preferably these rolls are from five thousandths to eight thousandths of an inch closer together than the preceding set of rolls. Inasmuch as these r'olls are removed a considerable distance from the torch, the molten metal in the cleft cools before it reaches the bite or line of compression of the second pair of rolls. When it reaches this point, the metal is sufficiently cooled so that it can take the necessary pressure to reliably grip the tube for feeding purposes Without pressing up an objectionable burr. Furthermore, the metal at this time has become sufficiently hardened so that when it is pressed together the Weld is finished,by an additional forging weld, such as the oldfashioned blacksmith used to effect by heating up the metal to a red heat and hammering it together. This secures a coalescence of the metal under such small degree of plasticity as to be calculated to hold the Weld after the metal leaves the compression rolls. In t-he old practice Where the metal is Apressed together at substantially the point of greatest fluidity the weld sometimes opened as the tube left the pressure zone.

Such opening we find is not likely to occur with our new method and arrangement of welding rolls, for the reason that the fluid metal is allowed to run and puddle together at the first set of rolls and in the zone Abetween the two sets of rolls, and finally after the same has run together and more or less hardened, it is given a final pressing together or a forging weld.

his arrangement of rolls and process avoids burning through the holes in the tube due to undependable feed, avoids. parts vof the Weld opening up due to premature e release of ressurc fore the unlted metal has had a c lance to cool, and further it permits the weld to be made clear through to the interior of the tube With a less expenditure of heat energy than has heretofore been found necessary.

What I claim is:

1. The method of gas-welding tube, which comprises causing the tube to travel lon itudinally, the holding of the edges of t e tube in contact only on the inside of the tube, the applying of the gas flame over the cleft so formed, and finally ap lying the compression stress to force the e ges fii'mly together at some distance behind the torch so as to permit the melted metal t0 more or less congeal before it is subjected to the zone of greatest pressure,

prises causing the 2. The method of gas Welding, which comtube to move longitudinelly, pressing the edges of the tube together only on the in the tube for a considerable distance, applying the welding'heat directly over the cleft, and finally the applying of the pinching together pressure at considerable distance to the rear of the Welding heatcto per- Init the welded portions to somewhat congel before they are pressed firmly together.

3. The method of gas Welding, which com prises the passing of the -tube longitudinall pressing. the tube together Vin one zone light y inside of the tube leaving :i cleft fcongealedby passing so as to simply cause the edges of the tube Yto meet on the inside leaving a. seam cleft, applyingl the Welding heat thereover, then passing through a cooling zone which permits the heated portion to more or less congeal, and nally applying the greatest com'- pression stress after the Weld has somewhat through said cooling zone, the said compression stress serving also to feed the tube along. i

AIn testimony. whereof I have affixed my signature.

Y RoiiAR-D o. BERG. 

